Note to self: Don’t drive angry!

Daryl

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Was running late to meeting my wife for our anniversary dinner due to an hour and a half trying to sort a non-delivery by UPS to my step-daughter’s place. So I’m already at a pretty good boil. No time to even S,S&S! So I hop in the car and decided, apparently, to take it out on the car. Now granted, I wasn’t mashing it 100% of the way there and quite frankly I believe the car, given the freshly stroked motor and all the correct stuff I’ve done to it, should be capable of handling it.
As I’m exiting the off-ramp, I all but lose power steering. The final 1/2 mile to the restaurant was via Power Steering by Armstrong! Car is now steaming from under the hood as I back it into the nearest parking space. I pop the hood and viola… belt’s off and coolant is on the ground. I’m pretty sure people 1/2 a parking lot away eating on the restaurant patio heard my train of expletives!!

Fortunately, I did save an old belt (thx to the advice of a Forum member)that is still “usable” to limp it home and I’ll get more coolant @ NAPA. So this morning my wife will give me a ride back, with my tools, etc for a lil’ parking lot mechanic work!

Needless to say I’ll be sourcing a better belt than the NAPA that was on there, which obviously failed The Stress Test!
 

joemomma

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Well, at least you found the "weak link" and it wasn't something serious. I'd had good luck with a Continental belt on the '94 since I removed the smog pump.
 
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Daryl

Daryl

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And away it went, 3 miles, to the mechanics garage. He put the “back-up” belt on in a jiffy, topped off the coolant and is going to flush the PS fluid. It looked brownish. Other than that, he saw nothing else that jumped out at him.
NAPA is replacing the belt for free.
 
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Daryl

Daryl

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dang that sucks man.
Yeah, I pretty much lost composure. Completely and entirely… I was absolutely livid! For the better part of an hour afterward the same thought kept circling around in my mind: “ with all the planning, care, researching, time and money I’ve put into this thing, I should be able to drive it hard without catastrophic results. WTF??”!!

And then it occurred to me…
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the motor, trans, brakes and everything else for that matter. Everything performed really, really well (and the speed/power actually scared me a couple of times!)… It was just a belt. Just a stinking’, rotten luck that I apparently got a blem BELT! Errrrrrggh! Check out the pic of what’s left of the belt:image.jpg
 

Makoto

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sounds like you learned the lesson, losing it never helps anything. one time i was going for a little drive and i noticed my fuel gauge was going towards empty WAY too fast.
barely got to a shell station before she ran out of go juice. i learned many things

1. my fuel pressure regulator was leaking
2. some issue with my coil pack wiring made her run badly
3. my parking brake was locking up
4. empty on my car is right where the needle touches the fuel gauge empty line... and full is PASSED the lines. none of my gauges work properly.

i filled her up and went to the oreilly's next to the station. had a drink and just took some time to think about what to do. usually that's all ya need to do.

in the end, this is why i got AAA. if something like this happens i can just call them, they handle it, and i can hop in my truck or whatever.

the old belt in the trunk is a tried and true idea. i keep everything i need to rebuild my fpr (new diaphragm even) and work on most mission critical stuff in my tool roll in the trunk now.
 
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Daryl

Daryl

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I’m gonna make me a tool roll! ++
 

OpalFrostGT

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Yeah, I pretty much lost composure. Completely and entirely… I was absolutely livid! For the better part of an hour afterward the same thought kept circling around in my mind: “ with all the planning, care, researching, time and money I’ve put into this thing, I should be able to drive it hard without catastrophic results. WTF??”!!

And then it occurred to me…
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the motor, trans, brakes and everything else for that matter. Everything performed really, really well (and the speed/power actually scared me a couple of times!)… It was just a belt. Just a stinking’, rotten luck that I apparently got a blem BELT! Errrrrrggh! Check out the pic of what’s left of the belt:View attachment 16760
what was your first clue that this belt was GONE?
 
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Daryl

Daryl

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what was your first clue that this belt was GONE?
Lost power steering. Armstrong’d it the final 1/2 mile. THEN noticed steam coming from underneath the hood. Blew out coolant and a little bit of PS fluid. Steam freaked me out. Thought it was going to catch fire.
 

badass98svt

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Yup, he total loss of power steering is a definite sign of a broken belt.
Hopefully this one will be good to go.
 

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